O Semeador de Felicidade

Poor Liberace. Imagine being that talented and that flamboyant at a time when being gay was illegal as well as classified as a mental illness. Liberace fought allegations of homosexuality until his death from pneumonia caused by AIDS in 1987. In 1955, however, he was at the top of his game, arguably the most popular pianist who ever lived. This film offers plenty of insight into his talent and appeal, especially to older women, who saw in him the kind and attentive lover they longed for, made even more sympathetic by the fact that his character copes with losing his hearing by improving the lives of others. The film includes 31 piano pieces-everything from Chopin to "The Beer Barrel Polka," boogie-woogie to "Rhapsody in Blue." It's almost a time capsule, minus the on-stage excesses he ultimately became known (and ridiculed) for. Look for background shots of San Francisco and check out costar Joanne Dru's gorgeous wardrobe. This is the only film in which "Mr. Showmanship" played the lead. At the 1982 Academy Awards ceremony, presenting the award for Best Original Score, Liberace prefaced his performance of selections from each nominee by joking, "I'm very proud of my contribution to motion pictures. I've stopped making them."

Would the radio ads of the day announced: '"LIBERACE: inSINCERELY YOURS" thus starting the thin edge of the wedge about his reputation? I wonder.....This film has a howling reputation in Australia. For some reason it is really well known with the over 45s who still today make jokes about it. There must have been one major TV moment in this Nation's history in about 1967 when the entire population - all ages - must have watched it on the same night . I did, all my school friends did, Granny, Mum and Dad all the Aunties and Uncles and even people from other TV stations did. Because the next week or so they made a big deal about showing 'the original' which is 1931 film THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD with George Arliss and Bette Davis. and if we stayed up late on a Friday night and saw THAT we could compare the two. Somehow SINCERELY YOURS stained the nations psyche...and future film makers...just look at the demented campy musicals Australia has made in the last decade. One friend said once to me: "when I saw the apartment with those big rooms and that patio with the view, I thought this is what life was going to be like when we grew up." And it is true! we all did! It screened about the same time THE JERRY LEWIS SHOW made a debut on Oz TV. and of course weren't we all in for a disappointment when we grew up. I think SINCERELY YOURS should be reissued and made into an audience participation film like ROCKY HORROR or MOMMY DEAREST. Lush, camp and ridiculous. Great viewing. Almost all through as good as the fantastic scene in MIDNIGHT LACE when Doris Day goes mad on the stairs. She lets out some sort of wobbly primeval shudder and howl. Incredible! Well all of SINCERELY YOURS is like that except with Liberace leering and tinkling as well, and on a shag carpet, under a chandelier. Wow!

...You never for a moment forget that he's Liberace, self-invented camp icon, and accepting him in another role becomes impossible. (It's like an old New York magazine word competition, where you were supposed to follow a line of actual dialog with a typical viewer's reaction. A winning entry was, "Hello, I'm Dr. Lowenstein..." "Hello, I'm Barbra Streisand.") That odd-looking face tries to emote and a couple of times nearly succeeds, and he also sings a bit (a song of his own composing, based on Chopin, with a soupy Paul Francis Webster lyric) and tap dances. The mid-'50s melodramatics, as penned by no less than Irving Wallace, are fun, as is the plush production design, and it's one of the whitest movies ever made--what, were there no people of color in San Francisco or New York at the time? The sheer otherness of it by today's standards is arresting. But it's slow and self-congratulatory, and you know where all the plot strings are headed long before they get there. Still, it's worth seeing, if only in a seeing-is-believing way.

While, by any legitimate standard of criticism, "Sincerely Yours" may be a terrible film, I have to say I had a good time watching it. That may have been for all the wrong reasons, but nevertheless...

Maybe no other performer in the history of show business fit the description of "love him or hate him" as well as Liberace. He had a huge and devoted following from the 1950's till his death, while all the rest of humanity either laughed or groaned at the mere mention of his name. This was the one and only film ever built around him, though he made appearances in others. It is, not surprisingly, a campy schmalzfest which makes plenty of room for Liberace's piano playing. The look and decor of the film is really the epitome of 50's kitsch. I won't go into the plot and all the lines and situations which bring a raised eyebrow because it would turn this review into the length of "War and Peace". I must say a word about the hilarious hospital scene at the end, though, where our hero learns whether or not he can hear again after a delicate operation. While William Demerest (Uncle Charlie from "My Three Sons") smokes a cigar in the hospital room, the doctor, played by Edward Platt, the Chief from "Get Smart" (fitting to have these situation comedy stars in this opus) cuts Liberace's bandages off to test his hearing. The sight of his chubby-cheeked, smooth face against the pillow offset by his famous wavy silver hair in disarray brought to mind nothing less than the Bride of Frankenstein!

In all fairness, this is a professionally made film, with that stylized, glossy, sanitized look that most Hollywood films of the 50's had. The supporting cast does the best they can under the circumstances. You'll either gush tears if you typically fall under Liberace's spell or be laughing and groaning your way all through the film, but one way or the other you'll be entertained!

... that is a retelling of 1932's The Man Who Played God, because of course Liberace is the perfect stand-in for the spry George Arliss(???), who was the star of the original film.

Anthony Warrin (Liberace) is a world-renowned concert pianist who is about to see his life's ambition fulfilled: playing at Carnegie Hall. Tragedy strikes when Anthony suddenly goes deaf due to a rare medical condition that can only be fixed with very risky surgery. Anthony decides to try life as a deaf person, learning to read lips, which allows him to eavesdrop on the lives of people in the park by his apartment. Anthony becomes a sort of guardian angel to some needy people, while also finding himself in an awkward love triangle between his loyal secretary Marion (Joanne Dru) and wealthy socialite Linda (Dorothy Malone).

A notorious flop intended to make master pianist Liberace into a matinee idol, this came recommended as a "so bad it's good" romp. It is silly, corny, schmaltzy, and filled with various unintended laughs. But the music is very good if one enjoys piano music, be it classical, contemporary or folk. The first part of the film is a very unbelievable romance, but when Liberace's character goes deaf, it suddenly morphs into a bizarre feel-good piece with Liberace playing the mysterious good Samaritan.

I enjoyed the awkwardness of it, including Liberace's performance, which ranges from creepily and jovially intense, to nervous amateurism (his hands are visibly shaking in some acting scenes). The supporting cast does what it can, and Dorothy Malone deserves some recognition for being on the receiving end of one of the screen's most uncomfortable looking kisses.